30K Imperial Fists Land Raider Proteus

Why walk when you can drive? Proteus Carrier for the warriors of the VII Legion Astartes to arrive in style.

More loyalist 30k kit in yellow armour? Why, yes! Here is a Land Raider Proteus Carrier, painted in colours of the VII Legion Astartes, the Imperial Fists. This is a multi-part plastic kit from GW, one of the (many) new models from GW's "Age of Darkness" Horus Heresy game. 

One of the very best aspects of GW's Horus Heresy game is the nostalgia factor. While the range was chock full of new things, it was also shot through with designs that pay homage to early "Rogue Trader" era of the game. As the Horus Heresy continues to enjoy some more "mainstream" product attention from GW, that trend remains firmly in place, with new plastic versions of "beakie" Space Marines, "Deimos pattern" Rhino APCs (and the family of assorted variants, including classic Predator tanks with egg-shaped main turrets) and of course the classic tank, the Land Raider.

That's a great big slab of armour, ready for battle on the table!

I have a few Proteus Land Raiders in my collection already. These were resin kits from Forge World, which featured lovely designs and sculpting, but were often somewhere between difficult and absolutely terrible to work with in terms of preparation and assembly. This was my first turn working on the new plastic versions, and all I can say is "wow!"...just night and day, no comparison at all, this kit is a home run for GW Horus Heresy (or even just Rogue Trader) fans. 

Vehicle commander with his own heavy bolter, so he can chip in with the other heavy bolters...

This kit can be built either as the "Carrier" or "Explorator" version of the Land Raiders...they would bring, in general, similar levels of armour and weapons to bear on the table, but the "Carrier" variant is more of a classic troop carrying vehicle, with the assault ramp and casemate-style turret mounted on the bow of the vehicle. 

You also get a wide assortment of choices for secondary weapons for the turret as well as the pintle mount over the driver's cupola...I opted for something of a classic mix, with heavy bolters in both locations to provide some additional anti-infantry firepower in contrast to the hard-hitting anti-tank power of the lascannon batteries on the side sponsons. 

View showing the side-access hatches. The kits come with nice optional embossed symbols for either the loyalist or traitor side of the conflict.

Painting this went OK - the yellow is far from perfect, but I weather the Imperial Fists in my collection to such an extent that this doesn't matter too much. Where I continue to encounter a real challenge is with the lack of alternative for "Agrax Earthshade". The current formulation absolutely SUCKS - too thin for use as a pin wash, requiring a somewhat thicker application, which can rapidly become much too thick, and is always, always glossy (and no, I'm not using the "glossy" one - even the allegedly matte one is, in actuality, glossy AF). The problem was acute on the figure of the tank commander, where I hoped to use a pin wash to highlight the assorted rivets and vents of his cool Mark II armour...but this did not really turn out, and instead the net effect ended up as a banged up guy in some manner of yellow plate...could have been worse, but with the old Agrax formulation, it would have been so much better...

Anyway, for all my frustration, I have yet to find a reasonable substitute - the Army Painter tone products do not work. But if anyone has any other recommendations to replace "Agrax Earthshade", I want to hear them!

Ready to be blown up on the first turn of its first game!

This vehicle will add some formidable armoured power to the VII Legion loyalists on my table. It can carry up to 12 Marines on board with the thickest armour available, and some potent weapons to engage enemy vehicles and infantry. I know it will be killed in the first turn when the time comes for its first game, but after that, it should make an important contribution toward efforts to slow the relentless advance of the Warmaster's forces. 

Still a bit more VII Legion content to come - stay tuned for that. Thanks for reading, and have a great long weekend!